


the smell of rain and roses

by mermaidbutch



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Afterglow friendship, Ako being an absolute fucking gremlin, Angst with a Happy Ending, Clueless Himari, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hanahaki Disease, Moca and Ako BrOTP 2k18, Moca is bad, Not Actually Unrequited Love, but i love her, idk if Ran is OOC in this, like really bad, she definitely does not cry often but I think in this situation she would
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 06:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15575826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermaidbutch/pseuds/mermaidbutch
Summary: Ran is sick of flowers.Between her dad’s insistence that she become a florist and those damn roses in her throat, Ran would be happy to never see a flower again. But Himari loves flowers, doesn't she?





	the smell of rain and roses

**Author's Note:**

> Second Bandori work…. I had one on my old account but I wanted to remake so here I am now. I plan on writing a more in the future :3 Anyway here's my rarepair. I love all Afterglow variations but HimaRan is my fave. I'm a huge multishipper though lol.

Ran is sick of flowers. 

 

Between her dad’s insistence that she become a florist and those damn roses in her throat, Ran would be happy to never see a flower again. But Himari loves flowers, doesn't she?

 

Not everyone gets Hanahaki. Only those who fall for the most pure, innocent, and flower-loving people do. And her crush was definitely all three. 

 

For the past month or so, white roses had been slowly creeping into Ran’s body, starting in her stomach and growing through her throat. If they reached her lungs she'd probably die. And at this rate, Ran certainly wouldn't be falling out of love with Himari anytime soon. 

 

But she couldn't focus on that now. Afterglow was in the middle of practicing, and nothing could keep her from her band. Not the flowers inside her, nor her father's flowers. 

 

“Ran, I think we should take a break. You sound tired,” Tsugumi says worriedly. 

 

Moca nods. “Yeah, I wanna eat something tasty! Let's go to Tomoe’s house!” she agrees. 

 

“Moca, you can't just invite yourself to someone else's house!” Ran scolds. Moca just shrugs. 

 

“It's okay. We're all best friends, so it's not weird. Saaya gave me a batch of chocolate cornets recently,” Tomoe says. She's already packing up. her drums, and Ran knows there's no stopping her. 

 

Himari’s grinning. “Chocolate cornets are so good!” 

 

“Thank you, Hii-chan. Chocolate cornets are the best,” Moca replies. 

 

Tomoe smiles too. “Well then it's decided! My house it is!” 

 

“Alrighty!” Tsugumi says as Himari shouts, “Yeah!”

 

“You coming, Ran?” Moca asks. “It'd be good for you to have some fun. You don't smile enough.”

 

“I don't like smiling much,” Ran replies. 

 

Moca sighs. “You're the same as always, aren't you?” she says, smiling sadly. 

 

The rain comes pouring down as the five girls run down the hill toward Tomoe’s house. Once they get inside, they all head into the kitchen. 

 

“There's hot cocoa powder in the pantry if anyone wants some,” Tomoe says. 

 

Ako comes crashing into the room. “Hot cocoa? Did someone say--” She trips over her own feet but Moca grabs her hands to prevent her from falling. 

 

“Hey, how's it going, my little freak!” Moca says.

 

“Nothing much!” Ako replies, beaming up at the older girl. “Can I have some hot cocoa?”

 

“You  _ may _ have some when the water is boiling,” Tomoe corrects 

 

“You're waiting for the water to boil? …Is it okay if I have some now?” 

 

“Don't be silly, Ako. That's just lukewarm cocoa!” Himari giggles. 

 

“Whatever! Lukewarm is fine.” Ako pours water into her mug and then adds the cocoa powder. 

 

“I bet she pours the milk first too,” Moca snickers to Tomoe. 

 

“We both do, actually,” Tomoe replies. “The cereal gets less soggy that way.”

 

“That doesn't make any sense,” Tsugumi says.

 

Ako takes a sip of her lukewarm cocoa. “Okay, bye! I'm gonna go play Fortnite with Rin-Rin!” Ako darts upstairs and into her room, somehow not spilling. 

 

Moca shakes her head and smiles. “Damn, that kid's fast.”

 

“Someday she's going to realize how much Rinko hates Fortnite and how she only plays it to make Ako happy…” Tsugumi mumbles. “It's a little funny.”

 

“I'll laugh when that happens. But then I'll apologize for laughing,” Tomoe agrees. 

 

Ran tuned their jokes out in favour of watching Himari laugh. It was pretty, she was pretty. 

 

Ran can feel the flowers in her throat rustling as she stares at Himari. She's used to this sensation, but vomiting petals in front of her friends is probably a bad idea. She had told Moca, obviously, and Tomoe figured it out easily. But Tsugumi and Himari had no idea. 

 

Moca must see the pain in Ran’s eyes, because she gestures for her to stand. 

 

“Excuse us for a minute, everyone. Ran, c’mon.” Moca pulls her friend into the hallway. 

 

Ran sighs and mutters, “What do you want?”

 

Moca rolls her eyes. “Just talk to her.” 

 

“No.”

 

Giggling, Moca replies, “That's our Ran! Always so stubborn, especially when she shouldn't be!” 

 

“It won't help.”

 

“Whatever! Give it a shot~!”

 

The two girls return to the kitchen. 

 

“Ran, are you okay?” Himari asks. She seems genuinely concerned, and Ran can feel herself melt. 

 

“Don't worry. I'll be fine,” she replies. 

 

“That's good! I don't want you to be in any kinda pain.”

 

Moca sighs and hoists herself up onto the counter. “Ugh. Won't you two stop being stupid?”

 

“I'm not being stupid!” Ran snaps, but the petals in her mouth beg to differ. 

 

“Me? Stupid? How so?” Himari asks. 

 

Tomoe begins to speak but Moca covers her mouth. “Hii-chan needs to figure this one out herself!” she says. 

 

Himari put a finger to her cheek curiously. “Huh? What are you talking about, Moca?” 

 

Moca giggles. “Just teasing~” 

 

“That's Moca being Moca,” Tsugumi says. Himari still looks confused. 

 

Himari is lost in thought and Ran’s beginning to tear up. It'd be bad if Himari saw her like this. But you can't see someone cry in the rain. Ran turns and walks toward the back door. 

 

Himari speaks up, sounding surprised. “Wait, it's still raining, Ran! You're going to catch a cold!” But Ran doesn't even look back at her. She slams the door, not out of anger but out of a need to be alone. Maybe Himari wouldn't follow her if she acted aggressive. But this is Himari we're talking about, so of course she follows. 

 

She finds Ran in the garden. 

 

“Why are you here?” Ran asks, trying to keep her voice calm. 

 

“I don't want you to get sick!”

 

Ran shakes her head slowly. “Himari. I'm already--” Right on cue she begins heaving. A couple of white rose petals fall out of her mouth. 

 

Himari’s eyes widen. “Oh my god! Do you need help? Ran?”

 

Ran collapses in response. Himari catches her and pulls her into a tight hug. She can feel her throat clogging up and Himari stroking her hair. 

 

“No, Ran, please… Ran, stay with me… Ran… Ran…”

 

“I like when you say my name,” Ran mumbles. 

 

“You do? Why? Is--” Himari stops and pulls away. “Is this my fault?” she asks, a genuine expression of fear on her face. 

 

Ran steps forward and wraps her arms around Himari. “Not fault… Causation, maybe. You did nothing wrong.”

 

“This is all because of me, isn't it? The flowers, you crying, Moca acting weirder than normal… Is it because I never told you?” 

 

“...Told me what?” Ran says softly. 

 

The two girls make eye contact, and Himari whispers, “Ran… I love you.” She gently presses her lips to Ran’s. 

 

And just like that, it's over. The flowers start fading as tears and raindrops stream down Ran’s face. They had grown slowly and painfully, yet disappeared so quickly. 

 

Kissing Himari was a literal breath of fresh air, and it ended all too quickly. They pull apart slowly, hands still on each other's backs. 

 

“We should probably go inside,” Himari mumbles, but neither of them move. Ran buries her head in Himari’s shoulder. 

 

“We should, yeah,” Ran finally sighs. They start disentangling themselves from each other, but keep their hands together. 

 

The two walk into the living room to see Tsugumi sheepishly handing Moca a ten dollar bill while Tomoe chuckles. 

 

“Hello, Hii-chan, Ran-chan!” Tsugumi greets them. She points at their interlocked fingers. “What's with the hands?”

 

“What's with the money?” Ran asks in response. 

 

“While you were out there getting oh so soaked, we were in here gambling and staying dry!” Moca says excitedly. “Damn, I'm gonna buy Ako  _ so _ many sweets with this…”

 

“Tsugu said it'd take another week for you two to sort things out. Moca said it was happening now. I was smart enough to stay out of this,” Tomoe explains, still laughing. 

 

Tsugumi nods. “Well now that that's answered… What's! with! the! hands!” She claps on every word like a Twitter stannie. 

 

Ran can feel her face heating up, so she turns to Himari for help. “Fellas…” Himari begins. “Is it gay to kiss a girl and tell you love her?”

 

The other three girls ooh and ahh over them. “Wow, you two are a cute couple!” Tomoe says happily. 

 

“Thanks, Tomo-chin!” Himari replies. She looks so happy. 

 

“I second that!” Tsugumi adds, and Moca nods too. 

 

Himari giggles. “You're all the best!”

  
All Ran can do is smile. But that's fine. She thinks she might like smiling after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it :D


End file.
